| How one woman's cell changed scientific thinhking forever | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of a tobacco farmer who died from cervical cancer and her cell strand, Hela, which scientists used to develop a cure for polio and other diseases. In a fascinating and revealing investigation, author Rebecca Skloot uncovers the history of Henrietta and her family, of the exploitation of black Americans by the medical industry and of Henrietta's immortal cells.